In the past, many families of international students were accustomed to considering immigration status only after graduation: study first, find an internship, work using OPT after graduation, see if they can be selected for an H-1B, and finally plan for a Green Card.
However, the current U.S. job market is undergoing significant changes. Competition for international students no longer begins after graduation; the threshold for immigration status has already moved forward into the stages of internship applications, campus recruitment, and employer screening. Many students feel the disparity caused by their status during the internship phase, long before they even reach the steps of OPT and H-1B.
According to reports, the U.S. internship market is experiencing significant changes: internship positions are decreasing, the number of applicants is increasing, and companies are more cautious about hiring for entry-level roles.
Data from recruitment platforms shows that the number of internship positions in early 2026 decreased by approximately 16% year-on-year; meanwhile, in the 2024-2025 academic year, each internship position received an average of 109 applications, compared to 62 in the previous year, nearly doubling the competition. At the same time, the importance of internships in corporate recruitment systems is rising. Surveys indicate that the conversion rate of interns to full-time employees has reached a five-year high.
This is why more and more U.S. students are starting to look for internships as early as their freshman and sophomore years. Companies are screening candidates earlier, students are competing earlier, and the job-seeking pressure that originally belonged to the graduation season is constantly moving forward.
For international students, the difficulty in job hunting is not just due to fewer positions and more applicants, but more realistically, due to status restrictions. Many companies directly ask two questions during internship or full-time job applications: Do you currently have authorization to work in the United States? Will you require employer visa sponsorship in the future?
These two questions may seem simple, but for international students, they are often the first screening hurdle. In its official job-seeking advice for international students, Handshake also warns: Do not waste time applying to companies that do not provide sponsorship, because even if you are lucky enough to get an internship, the company may not be able to formally hire you after graduation. This shows that companies have long since used "whether sponsorship is needed in the future" as an important screening criterion.
International students without a Green Card, even with excellent professional skills, still face uncertainties such as OPT expiration, H-1B lottery, whether the employer is willing to provide sponsorship, and status risks after layoffs. The traditional "F-1 student visa—OPT—H-1B—Green Card" path is not impossible, but it is highly dependent on external variables; any change in any link could affect subsequent plans to stay in the U.S.
In contrast, students who hold a Green Card do not need to rely on employer sponsorship, nor do they need to face the H-1B lottery. From the perspective of companies, such candidates offer greater employment stability, lower conversion risks, and are more suitable for long-term development.
All indicate that the status threshold has been moved forward
Recruitment information from some well-known companies further illustrates that the status threshold has been moved forward.
For example, KPMG explicitly stated in some of its 2026 summer internship job requirements: Applicants must already have authorization to work in the United States and must not require employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Its description also explicitly lists that it does not provide H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT, or other employment-based visa sponsorship for this opportunity.
Some positions at Morgan Stanley also explicitly state that they do not sponsor international work visas.
This situation is also reflected in the real job-seeking feedback from many international students. A student with F-1 OPT status shared on a social platform that they have a background in Computer Information Systems and internship experience in data analysis, but even after submitting a large number of resumes, interview opportunities remain very limited. Their feeling is very direct: "Once they learn that I am an international student and hold OPT status, they immediately reject me."
Others, when discussing the recruitment trends for OPT/CPT international students, mentioned that they once interned at a Fortune 20 company. Among more than 120 interns, they only knew of about 2 who held visa status, while the rest were mostly Green Card holders or U.S. citizens. The reason is very realistic: companies hire interns essentially with the hope of converting them into full-time employees in the future; if full-time positions are more inclined toward Green Card holders or U.S. citizens, then international students will naturally be affected during the internship stage.
Whether it is corporate recruitment requirements or real student feedback, they all point to the same issue: immigration status is no longer just a problem to be faced after graduation, but is moving forward into internship applications, position screening, and conversion evaluations.
In the current environment, more and more families of international students are beginning to pay attention to EB-5, precisely because it provides an immigration path that does not rely on employers or the H-1B lottery.
Under the new EB-5 law, the "concurrent filing" policy allows eligible applicants in the United States to file Form I-526E and Form I-485 simultaneously, and they can obtain a Combo card in about 3 months, thereby obtaining legal residence, work authorization, and convenience for entry and exit as early as possible. For international students who are currently studying or about to enter the job-seeking stage, this type of planning helps improve the initiative in internship and employment choices.
It is worth noting that the protection period for the "grandfather clause" of the new EB-5 policy will expire on September 30, 2026. By submitting an application before this date, even if the policy changes in the future, the applicant can still continue to be processed according to the current legal rules. WorldWay holds high-quality rural EB-5 projects with officially approved I-956F, such as "Sugar Mountain Hilton Hotel in North Carolina," helping investors quickly realize their U.S. immigration status planning.
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